Bruce Roger Debruin, Lexington US

Bruce Roger Debruin, Lexington, SC US

Patent application number

Description

Published

20080221296

Polyester production system employing an unagitated esterification reactor - A polyester production system employing a vertically elongated esterification reactor. The esterification reactor of the present invention is an improvement over conventional CSTR esterification reactors because, for example, in one embodiment, the reactor requires little or no mechanical agitation. Further, in one embodiment, the positioning of the inlets and outlets of the reactor provides improved operational performance and flexibility over CSTRs of the prior art.

09-11-2008

20080221297

Polyester production system employing hot paste to esterification zone - A polyester production process employing an esterification system that uses a distillation column to recover alcohol produced from an esterification zone and then utilizes the recovered alcohol to form a paste, which is recirculated back to the esterification zone with little or no cooling.

09-11-2008

20080312406

POLYESTER PROCESS USING A PIPE REACTOR - The invention is directed to polyester processes that utilizes a pipe reactor in the esterification, polycondensation, or both esterification and polycondensation processes. Pipe reactor processes of the present invention have a multitude of advantages over prior art processes including improved heat transfer, volume control, agitation and disengagement functions.

12-18-2008

20090016938

SLOPED TUBULAR REACTOR WITH SPACED SEQUENTIAL TRAYS - A sloped tubular reactor operable to facilitate a chemical reaction in a reaction medium flowing therethrough. The reactor can include a plurality of spaced apart internal trays disposed at different elevations in a downwardly sloping elongated tubular member.

01-15-2009

20090016939

MULTI-LEVEL TUBULAR REACTOR WITH VERTICALLY SPACED SEGMENTS - A multi-level tubular reactor operable to facilitate a chemical reaction in a reaction medium flowing therethrough. The tubular reactor can include a plurality of horizontally elongated and vertically spaced reactor segments coupled to and extending outwardly from a common header. One or more of the reactor segments can contain a tray that divides the internal volume of the reactor segment into upper and lower chambers. The reaction medium can flow away from the header in the upper chambers and back to the header in the lower chambers.

01-15-2009

20090016940

SLOPED TUBULAR REACTOR WITH DIVIDED FLOW - A sloped tubular reactor operable to facilitate a chemical reaction in a reaction medium flowing therethrough. The reactor can include a downwardly sloped tubular member, a flow divider disposed in the tubular member, and one or more internal trays disposed in the tubular member. The flow divider divides flow of the reaction medium among the trays and the bottom of the tubular member.

01-15-2009

20090018280

HORIZONTAL TRAYED REACTOR - A horizontal trayed reactor operable to facilitate a chemical reaction in a reaction medium flowing therethrough. The reactor can include a plurality of vertically spaced trays disposed within the horizontally elongated vessel shell. The reaction medium can flow in generally opposite directions on vertically adjacent trays so that the reaction medium flows generally back-and-forth through the reactor.

01-15-2009

20090018281

MULTI-LEVEL TUBULAR REACTOR WITH INTERNAL TRAY - A multi-level tubular reactor operable to facilitate a chemical reaction in a reaction medium flowing therethrough. The tubular reactor can include a horizontally elongated reactor segment containing a tray that divides the internal volume of the reactor segment into upper and lower chambers. The reaction medium can flow through the upper and lower in generally opposite directions.

01-15-2009

20090018282

MULTI-LEVEL TUBULAR REACTOR WITH OPPOSITELY EXTENDING SEGMENTS - A multi-level tubular reactor operable to facilitate a chemical reaction in a reaction medium flowing therethrough. The tubular reactor can include a plurality of horizontally elongated and vertically spaced reactor segments coupled to and extending outwardly from a common header. One or more of the reactor segments can contain a tray that divides the internal volume of the reactor segment into upper and lower chambers. The reaction medium can flow away from the header in the upper chambers and back to the header in the lower chambers.

01-15-2009

20090018283

MULTI-LEVEL TUBULAR REACTOR WITH DUAL HEADERS - A multi-level tubular reactor operable to facilitate a chemical reaction in a reaction medium flowing therethrough. The tubular reactor can include a plurality of horizontally elongated and vertically spaced tubular members coupled to and extending between a pair of horizontally spaced and vertically elongated headers.

01-15-2009

20090018284

REACTOR SYSTEM WITH OPTIMIZED HEATING AND PHASE SEPARATION - A reactor system operable to facilitate a chemical reaction in a reaction medium flowing therethrough. The reactor system includes a heat exchanger for heating the reaction medium and a disengagement vessel for disengaging vapor from the heated reaction medium.

01-15-2009

20090039568

INTEGRATED POLYESTER PRODUCTION FACILITY - An integrated facility for the production of polyester and polyester containing products. In one embodiment, the integrated production facility manufactures terephthalic acid (TPA), which is utilized to produce polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and PET containing beverage containers. In contrast to traditional processing schemes, the processing steps of the integrated production facility can be located proximate each other and can be integrated to eliminate certain intermediate processing steps such as, for example, purification, heating, cooling, and drying.

02-12-2009

20090111967

Reactor With Optimized Internal Tray Design - A system for processing large quantities of a reaction medium while maintaining the reaction medium in sheets. The system includes a reactor having a plurality of vertically-spaced downwardly-sloped trays over which the reaction medium flows while it is subjected to reaction conditions. The slope of the trays increases downwardly to accommodate for the increased viscosity of the reaction medium while the reaction medium flows downwardly through the reactor. An upper portion of the trays have a uni-directional configuration, while a lower portion of the trays have a bi-directional configuration. Further, the orientation of flow across the uni-directional trays is rotated by 90 degrees in at least one location as the reaction medium flows down the uni-directional trays.

04-30-2009

20090149626

SYSTEM FOR PRODUCING LOW IMPURITY POLYESTER - A polyester production facility capable of producing an esterified product stream having a low impurity concentration relative to product streams produced in conventional polyester production facilities.

06-11-2009

20090218052

DRYER CONFIGURATION FOR PRODUCTION OF POLYESTER PARTICLES - A dryer system configured for use in a polyester polymer production process. In one embodiment, the dryer system can be utilized in a non-solid-state polymer production process to dry the polymer particles prior to crystallization.

CRYSTALLIZER TEMPERATURE CONTROL VIA FLUID CONTROL - A method of crystallizing a plurality of crystallizable polymer pellets includes a step in which the pellets are contacted with a temperature adjusting fluid in a crystallizer. The fluid adjusts the temperature of the pellets by having a temperature sufficient to allow at least partial crystallization of the plurality of polymeric pellets while maintaining the average pellet temperature of the plurality of pellets below the melting temperature of the pellets. A crystallizer implementing the methods of the invention is also provided.

03-04-2010

20100113712

STEAM HEATED POLYESTER PRODUCTION PROCESS - Processes for making polyesters in a polyester production facility are disclosed, that include the steps of: forming a reaction medium comprising at least one monomer that includes terephthalic acid (TPA) and/or an ester derivative of TPA; subjecting at least a portion of the reaction medium to one or more chemical reactions in the polyester production facility to thereby produce the polyester; generating high-pressure steam having a pressure of at least 5 megapascals; heating one or more process fluid streams of the polyester production facility by indirect heat exchange with the high-pressure steam, wherein the process fluid streams include any stream that is formed predominately of the reaction medium and/or the at least one monomer; heating a heat transfer medium (HTM) via indirect heat exchange with the high-pressure steam to thereby form heated HTM; and heating at least a portion of the process fluid streams by indirect heat exchange with the heated HTM.

05-06-2010

20100113713

STEAM HEATED POLYESTER PRODUCTION PROCESS - Processes for making polyesters in a polyester production facility are disclosed, that include the steps of forming a reaction medium comprising at least one monomer that includes terephthalic acid (TPA) and/or an ester derivative of TPA; subjecting at least a portion of the reaction medium to one or more chemical reactions in the polymer production facility to thereby produce the polyester; and heating the reaction medium at one or more locations in the polyester production facility, wherein at least 50 percent of the total energy input employed for the heating of the reaction medium is provided by indirect heat exchange between the reaction medium and steam.

05-06-2010

20100113714

INTEGRATED STEAM HEATING IN POLYESTER PRODUCTION PROCESS - Processes for making polyesters in a polyester production facility are disclosed, that include the steps of: forming a reaction medium comprising at least one monomer that includes terephthalic acid (TPA) and/or an ester derivative of TPA; subjecting at least a portion of the reaction medium to one or more chemical reactions in the polyester production facility to thereby produce the polyester; heating at least a portion of the reaction medium via indirect heat exchange with high-pressure steam, wherein the heating causes at least a portion of the high-pressure steam to condense and thereby provide pressurized condensed water; flashing at least a portion of the pressurized condensed water to thereby produce lower-pressure steam; and heating one or more process fluid streams of the polyester production facility via indirect heat exchange with at least a portion of the lower-pressure steam, wherein the process fluid streams include any stream that is formed predominately of the reaction medium and/or the at least one monomer.

05-06-2010

20100113736

INTEGRATED STEAM HEATING IN POLYESTER PRODUCTION PROCESS - Integrated processes for making polyesters are disclosed, that include the steps of: (a) producing an aromatic polycarboxylic acid in a monomer production facility; (b) producing a polyester in a polyester production facility, wherein the producing of the polyester comprises the substeps of: (i) forming a polyester reaction medium comprising at least a portion of the aromatic polycarboxylic acid from the monomer production facility, (ii) subjecting at least a portion of the polyester reaction medium to one or more chemical reactions to thereby produce the polyester, (iii) heating the polyester reaction medium at one or more locations in the polyester production facility via indirect heat exchange with high-pressure steam, wherein the heating causes at least a portion of the high-pressure steam to condense and thereby provide pressurized condensed water, and (iv) flashing at least a portion of the pressurized condensed water to thereby produce lower-pressure steam; and (c) using at least a portion of the lower-pressure steam to provide thermal energy to the monomer production facility.

05-06-2010

20100121001

Reactor With Optimized Internal Tray Design - A system for processing large quantities of a reaction medium while maintaining the reaction medium in sheets. The system includes a reactor having a plurality of vertically-spaced downwardly-sloped trays over which the reaction medium flows while it is subjected to reaction conditions. The slope of the trays increases downwardly to accommodate for the increased viscosity of the reaction medium while the reaction medium flows downwardly through the reactor. An upper portion of the trays have a uni-directional configuration, while a lower portion of the trays have a bi-directional configuration. Further, the orientation of flow across the uni-directional trays is rotated by 90 degrees in at least one location as the reaction medium flows down the uni-directional trays.

05-13-2010

20110034630

Late Addition to Effect Compositional Modifications in Condensation Polymers - A process for preparing modified polymer by withdrawing a slip stream of polymer melt from the discharge line of a continuous polymerization reactor, admixing in a highly modified polymeric additive into the polymer melt within the slip stream, then introducing the modifier containing slip stream late in the manufacturing process prior to the slip stream withdrawal point. The improved processes of the invention have particular utility for large-scale, continuous reactor where transitions and short production runs are economically prohibitive thereby limiting the product breath. The process is particularly suited for producing a family of copolyesters using a continuous melt phase production process.

02-10-2011

20110034644

POLYESTER PROCESS USING A PIPE REACTOR - The invention is directed to polyester processes that utilizes a pipe reactor in the esterification, polycondensation, or both esterification and polycondensation processes. Pipe reactor processes of the present invention have a multitude of advantages over prior art processes including improved heat transfer, volume control, agitation and disengagement functions.

Polyester Production System Employing an Unagitated Esterification Reactor - A polyester production system employing a vertically elongated esterification reactor. The esterification reactor of the present invention is an improvement over conventional CSTR esterification reactors because, for example, in one embodiment, the reactor requires little or no mechanical agitation. Further, in one embodiment, the positioning of the inlets and outlets of the reactor provides improved operational performance and flexibility over CSTRs of the prior art.